Notice on Amendments to the Regulations of the Collaborative Search and Examination (CS&E) Pilot Program between the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore and the Intellectual Property Office of Vietnam
A first in ASEAN, the Collaborative Search and Examination (CS&E) is a programme between the IP Office of Singapore (IPOS) and Viet Nam (VNIPO) to speed up the patent search and examination process for innovators who wish to file patents in both countries. The benefits of this programme are: (i) Comprehensive prior art search and quality examination results; (ii) More certainty of patent rights; (iii) Accelerated first office action and (iv) Complimentary CS&E request during the pilot.
Recently, the IPOS proposed to the VNIPO amendments to the Regulations of the CS&E Pilot Program between the two Offices. The proposed amendments aim to expand the types of applications eligible for the program and extend the program’s duration by an additional two years, in order to better meet the needs of applicants. In line with facilitating applicants and enhancing cooperation in patent examination between Vietnam and Singapore, IP Vietnam has agreed to the amendments proposed by IPOS, specifically as follows:
- Excluding the requirement that the application filed in the first country (Singapore or Vietnam) must be the first filing (i.e., an application that does not claim priority and is not a divisional application, as stated in point 2.1.d of the initial CS&E Regulations). This change broadens the scope of applications eligible for participation in the CS&E Program.
- Excluding the requirement that the CS&E request must be filed on the same day as the patent application in the first country (as stated in point 2.1.c of the initial CS&E Regulations). Now, it is only required that the CS&E request is submitted on the same day as the substantive examination request, allowing the applicant to request accelerated examination in the second country after receiving the CS&E Report.
- If the applicant has already filed a substantive examination request in the second country, within two months of the issuance of the CS&E Report, the applicant may submit the CS&E Report from the first country to request prioritized accelerated examination in the second country (see point 3.12.b of the amended Regulations).
- The CS&E Pilot Program will now run from March 1, 2023, to February 28, 2027 (instead of February 28, 2025).
Meanwhile, other requirements for participating in the Program remain the same: Applicant must fulfil the local representative/address for service requirements; Application should contain twenty or fewer claims including three or fewer independent claims; and The request for CS&E is made within the cap limits (20 applications annually, 2 applications monthly and 2 applications per month per applicant).
In addition to this pilot program, Vietnam is also participating in other programs to accelerate the patent examination process, including the PPH (Patent Prosecution Highway) program in collaboration with the Japan Patent Office (JPO); the PPH program in collaboration with the Korean Intellectual Property Office; and the ASPEC (ASEAN Patent Examination Co-operation) program. While these programs mainly involve referencing examination results from other countries, the CS&E program involves both patent offices conducting searches and examinations on the same case and exchanging results with each other. This demonstrates a significant collaborative effort between the two offices.Bottom of Form
For detailed information on the amendments, please refer to the following documents:
Revisions to the Guidelines for CS&E:
Updated Factsheet for CS&E:
